Huge wildfire lays waste to campsite, threatens Yosemite

The Rim Fire appears to have a ferocious appetite and is scorching and scarring everything in its path. (Source: KTXL/CNN)

TUOLUMNE COUNTY, CA (KTXL/CNN) - Threatening Yosemite National Park and burning through an area the size of Chicago, the Rim Fire has grown to more than 160,000 acres.

Containment has grown to 15 percent as firefighters work to cut fire lines and put out hot spots.

The Rim Fire has burned erratically, changing directions instantly.

"(Wildfires) can. They can create their own micro climate, much as it happened in Arizona where the fire changed directions and came back the other way," Public Information Officer Steve Stien said.

The Rim Fire appears to have a ferocious appetite and is scorching and scarring everything in its path.

Just days ago the fire made a run towards base camp, the command center for firefighters. Flames blackened the land right up to edge of the camp before making yet another turn.

"They were able to alleviate that danger and obviously save the base camp, which was a godsend," Stien said.

Campers at Berkeley's Tuolumne Family Camp were evacuated two days prior, but they left like the world was coming to an end. Flip flops, towels, even a car all left behind.

Firefighters are still putting out hot spots after a fire roared through a Berkeley camp Sunday afternoon. It appears like it's raining ash. It burned out a lot of the campground, gutted a vehicle, and the fire was so hot, it left pools of melted metal.

The view, once serene, is now devastating. Stone fire places looked like smoldering headstones, and fire is not the only danger.

Near the campground, trees burned through and through, no longer stable, were falling on the roadside.

The only thing certain about this fire is the sheer uncertainty of it all and that firefighters are working, watching, and wondering when they will put this out.

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